Today's installment in the ongoing iPhone 5 release date guestimation saga: It's beginning to look a lot like mid-October. Apple Insider is reporting that Apple has been "quietly denying" employee vacation requests for two periods in the middle of October, suggesting that it might be expecting a lot of demand from customers around that time, for some reason.
(MORE: Report: Apple's Tim Cook to Unveil iPhone 5 on October 4)
The two periods have been identified by insiders as October 9-12 and 14-15. The first period is expected to see the release of iOS 5 for existing iOS device users—AppleCare divisions have apparently been told to prepare for an increased volume of inquiries at the same time—with the second finally seeing the long-awaited release of the iPhone 5, 10 days after the assumed-announcement date of October 4.
If true, these dates would follow the model of iOS release/iPhone upgrade established by 2009's iOS3/iPhone 3 release (June 17/21) and last year's iOS4/iPhone 4 (June 21/24). Perhaps it's time to start thinking about lining up outside the nearest Apple store right now, just in case...
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